The Darkest Joy (10 page)

“Know this, Belial. If that happens, I will spend my time making your life a living hell. My vengeance will not be quenched,”
Caim
countered. He felt pleased when he saw the flicker of doubt that filtered though Belial’s face.

“Stop this fucking chitchat!”
Samael
snarled. He set his eyes on
Caim’s
face. “Did you think it would be so easy to escape this realm?”

“I thought I was going to just walk out,
Samael
. My time is up,”
Caim
responded placidly.

“Impudent whelp! A thousand years is a mere flash in the span of my immortality. You think I would just let you walk away? I don’t give up demons to become humans,”
Samael
roared.

“That was the nature of my sentence, a chance of redemption. The clause was there.”

“Do you think we follow the contracts of that world? Your maker knew that there would be no chance of you ever leaving here. That is why he sent you.”
Samael
smiled an evil smile. “He knew that we would never keep our side of the deal. Come on now, he is the all-knowing.”

“Like you said, he is my maker. He also knows of my strength. He knew I would find my path to deliverance,”
Caim
said softly.

“The human girl, the one called Bliss. I should send Belial now to break her scrawny neck,”
Samael
replied.

Those words sent fear and anger shooting through
Caim’s
heart. The thought of Bliss being touched and harmed by Belial was almost too much to bear. He had to quench the anger in his heart before it gave a foothold to the demonic essence around him and allowed it to take hold.

“If Belial can stand walking on hallowed ground, so be it. She is safe where even I cannot go.”
Caim
smiled coldly at the two demons in front of him.

Samael
nodded. “Very wise to send her to sanctified ground. Take him.”

Caim
didn’t have a chance to turn to see who
Samael
was talking to. He felt the agony of the whip against his back that tore though his flesh and sent him to his knees.
Qemuel
!
Another lash sent him to the floor, and the cry of anguish was torn from his lips. Again and again, the lash from the whip dipped in sulfur and hellfire ripped at his flesh and sent its unworldly venom into his veins. He lay weak against the hot rocks that made up the floor. He felt the shackles, forged from hellfire, unbreakable even by demons, being put on his hands and legs. He was caught.
Qemuel
dragged him to his feet. He could hear the sickening laughter coming from Belial’s lips at his capture.

Samael
took his hair in his grasp, tugged
Caim’s
head up to face him, and said softly, “You countered my plan of making you watch as Belial killed her. But I have come up with a new, better plan for you.
Qemuel’s
whip will change you to your new form. No more of the fallen one, but pure demon. What will be your first taste of deviance of your new life? It will be the blood of your Bliss when you kill her yourself.”

“No!”
Caim
heard the pure anguish and heart-wrenching pain that came from his screams echoing down the hall as he was dragged away, the very same way that the souls he took to hell were.

* * * *

“Bliss, why are you in here?” Amber’s soft voice came from the doors of the chapel.

Bliss turned to see the tiny figure of her friend. She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to give a smile. “I’m fine, sweetie. What are you doing working today?”

“Oh, I had to cover a shift. You know someone always gets sick around here.” Amber gave a tinkling laugh, but made no move to enter the room. “Come on out. We’ll walk to the cafeteria, and I’ll buy you a hot cup of coffee.”

Amber knows I don’t drink coffee.
Doubt and suspicion began to form in Bliss’s mind. “Thanks for the offer, but I just want to sit here for a while. I have a lot on my mind, and I’m looking for some divine clarity. How about you come and sit with me for a while? I can sure use my best friend.”

Amber cleared her throat uncomfortably. “No, I-I don’t think so.”

“Why not? You love this place. You said you can always think here.” Bliss stood and walked a few steps away from the threshold of the chapel to the hall.

“Not today, I feel fine today.” She held out her hand to Bliss in invitation. “Come on, sweetie, let me comfort you. I know
Caim’s
leaving must be hard.”

“How did you know
Caim
left? I didn’t tell you. Unless you aren’t Amber at all. Do you think I am that naïve, Belial?” Bliss asked contemptuously.

The body and looks of Amber never changed, but a smile of pure, unadulterated evil formed on the face of the demon posing as her friend. “You are not naïve at all, Bliss. But
Caim
was. He thought he could leave hell, and now he’s there, chained to
Qemuel’s
wall, being tortured because of you.”

Bliss couldn’t stifle the gasp of horror that escaped from her mouth. “You can’t! He said you can’t change the rules!”

“Oh, we didn’t change the rules. We are just holding him for a while until his time passes by. Then he will be like me in every way. Maybe he might be willing to share you.”

“Never!” Bliss said emphatically. A shudder of revulsion ran through her body.

“I give you one more chance to save him. Sign my contract. I’ll even throw in an added bonus and extension of years. Your soul won’t be collected until you are old and gray.”

Bliss shook her head vigorously. “I won’t ever do it!
Caim
has my love, and he will find a way. I know he will. I will be there to catch him when he falls, and by God, if you try to stop him or me, I’ll kill you myself!”

Belial’s nasty laugh made her want to cover her ears. “He will be a demon, Bliss, and he will kill you. I want to be there to watch as he rips your head from your body.”

With that, Belial, still in the image of Amber, gave a jaunty wave and disappeared from her sight. On shaky feet, Bliss turned and went back to sit on the pews in the small hospital chapel. She looked at the small stained glass window and sent a plea to heaven.

“He is still yours, you know. Even in that pit you sentenced him to, he was still yours. He kept that spark of his soul alive, even though he spent a thousand years in that place. Please help him. Give him a chance to be human. They are not playing by the rules. Do we have to?”

Bliss posed the question even though she expected no answer. She just hoped someone up there was listening to her because right now, they were all
Caim
had. Her love would be there to catch him when he fell, but she couldn’t save him from hell.

* * * *

The walls were like scalding water against the skin on
Caim’s
back. In only a few hours, he had been tortured like no other in the bowels of the unearthly realms of hell. Beaten with
Qemuel’s
whip until the skin on his back was shredded. Forced to watch all the debauchery and deviant behavior one could do. They had tried to make him eat the flesh of innocent humans and drink their blood to quench his thirst, a thirst that came to anyone tortured by
Qemuel
. He liked to watch them beg for a drink to ease the ache from swollen tongues and cracked lips. But
Caim
refused, and for that, the demon known for his ways in a torture chamber made him suffer. In a place where the only rule was to play in the den of iniquity, there were things that men dared not think of that were performed here, all in the name of the dark prince who ruled it with an iron fist.

Lucifer had already heard of
Caim’s
plan to leave hell and how he had been stopped. He had heard the words directly from Belial’s own mouth.
Caim
knew that Belial, being in the presence of the dark lord and telling him of how a fallen one had tried to escape his lair, must have almost wetted himself in glee. Lucifer did not feel it necessary to visit the scene on his own. It was minimal on his list of important things to do. Instead, he gave Belial new standing in hell, a sector to rule on his own with new demons under his command as a collector of souls. Lucifer had also given him a message to take back to
Qemuel
about
Caim’s
punishment. He was to be given no reprieve, ultimate punishment until he became a demon. If he did not, he was to be cast into the fiery sea of perpetual agony for eternity. Belial had had no problem delivering the message. He teased
Caim
with it and boasted of his new position.
I hope he chokes on his own filth,
Caim
thought miserably. He cried out in agony when felt a new lash across his belly. This time
Qemuel’s
whip had barbs, thorns attached to the leather. At his feet, smaller carrion demons scratched at the skin. Their tiny tongues felt like scorpion stings against his torn flesh as they licked at his blood.

“Ready to submit now?”
Qemuel
hissed. “Look at you. Pathetic. I don’t know why they would want something weak like you as a demon. You and your kind lived up there for a reason, because you are weaklings!”

“I am stronger than you because I will not ever become one of the demons that dwell here. You could as well throw me into the sea of fire.”
Caim
gasped in his pain.

Another lash made him grit his teeth. This time the end of the whip caught his face and left a trail of blood running down his cheek.
Qemuel’s
laughter echoed off the wall.

“I fully intend to throw you there,
Caim
, after a little fun for me. The dark one did not tell me how long I had to try to break you. A few thousand years of you chained to my wall will entertain me for a while,”
Qemuel
replied with sadistic pleasure. “I’ll heal you every time you become a bit too broken, and then we’ll start all over again. How’s that, hmm?”

Caim
did not reply because, even though the pain of his body was unbearable, the grief of not seeing Bliss again was agony in his soul. It was the end of him. He could feel it in his entire being. Knowing that he had nothing left to lose,
Caim
lifted his voice and cried out in hope that someone would hear him.

“I have served my sentence, and I have been punished for my transgression! Should I have to die in this place?” He did not have to voice who he was speaking to. The hiss of the shackles was enough to let everyone know. Even thinking the name of the Almighty in hell caused everything to hiss and sizzle as if doused by holy water.

“Don’t say it! Don’t say his name!”
Qemuel
screamed while he covered his ears with his hands.

“My Father, my God! I found my love, the one who can free me. Give me the chance to have my soul’s rest! Give me peace!”
Caim
begged.

The carrion demons that were licking at the blood on his feet retched and vomited before their bodies curled and bubbled into putrid puddles.
Qemuel
was on his knees. His body contorted and burn blisters burst through the skin, as the name of the Almighty caused him insufferable pain. The walls of hell began to shake and tremble. Fissures and cracks formed along the rocky floor, breaking open and exposing the lava tubes underneath that pulsed under the rocks. From above, stalactites fell and crashed into the floor and crumbled to dust.
Caim
looked at the mayhem surrounding him with amazement, and a new sense of hope rose within him. Maybe his cries had been heard after all!

As if to prove his words true, while the underworld shook and crumbled, the shackles forged in hellfire fell from his feet and his wrists and he fell to the floor. He turned just in time to see
Qemuel
fall into a crack that erupted under his body. He held on with talon claws in hope of keeping himself from falling, but as the earth shook ever harder, he fell into the lava beneath him and was destroyed before a scream could ever leave his lips.

Caim
was free, but weak. He took gasping breaths while he concentrated and tried to heal what he could in his condition. He pulled strength from deep inside him to phase out of this world and into his freedom. His maker had spoken, and now even the oldest of demons cowered under the invisible voice of the Almighty. Before he could leave, he felt two powerful hands wrap around his neck, and he was flung against the farthest wall of the cavern.
Caim
fell to the floor with a loud thud and looked up at his attacker. It was
Samael
, turned to complete demon with teeth like razors and ready to tear
Caim
limb from limb.